Pinkerton girls' lacrosse team tops Bedford

DERRY - What was most impressive about the Pinkerton Academy of Derry girls' lacrosse team's 14-3 victory over Bedford on Saturday?

You could argue that it was Pinkerton's ability to control the game with its offense. The Astros had a significant edge in 50/50 balls, and dominated time of possession.

"We had very few repetitions on the offensive end, so it's hard to challenge a defense if you don't have opportunities," Bedford coach Christine Hodgdon said. "We just didn't have enough opportunities on goal to keep the score closer. They definitely beat us to the ground balls."

Bedford had a 2-1 lead with just over seven minutes to play in the first half, but it was all Pinkerton after that. The Astros led 6-2 at halftime, and running time kicked in when Pinkerton made it a 13-3 game with 56 seconds to play.

"The game started out rough because there was too much transition on a day like today, but then they really started to control the ball," Pinkerton coach Rob Daziel said. "I was expecting a tough game. The first half didn't surprise me. They're at the top of Division II. The top of all divisions are all solid teams."

Eric Coutts scored four goals for the Astros, who improved their Division I record to 6-0. Maggie McCarthy and Kennedy Daziel each scored three goals. Amanda Szostak, Sierra Sanchez, Micaela Capozzo and Aleah MacKay also scored for Pinkerton, which won last year's Division I title.

Daziel, Sanchez, Capuzzo and MacKay each collected two assists in the victory.

Bedford received goals from Sawyer Biron, Mikayla Sterling and Drew Shapiro. The Bulldogs, who dropped to 3-1 in Division II, outscored its three previous opponents 59-17.

The two goaltenders - Bedford's Ashley Maddox and Pinkerton's Sarah Lambert - each made six saves."They had a lot of contributors, which was difficult for us to compete with," Hodgdon said. "A lot of different people did some finishing and feeding for them. They found each other pretty well in the field."We had some trouble with the draw, not enough reps on attack - we just couldn't put the pieces together."